0:05
This is The GPL Podcast, sponsored by Vintage Minnesota Hockey, your exclusive source for throwback Minnesota jerseys.
0:14
Visit vintagemnhockey.com.
0:19
Now, here's Hammy, Vego, and your host, Jupiter.
0:40
And we're back for the season premiere of The GPL Podcast.
0:45
Season number seven, boys.
0:47
Episode number 114.
0:49
We are getting up there.
0:50
We've been doing this since 2011.
0:52
And been there the whole time, me and Hammeh.
0:56
Hammeh, we've been here the entire time.
0:58
It's a lot of podcasts, boy.
1:00
Yeah, I didn't even realize it was that many years.
1:03
I didn't think it was that long.
1:05
I didn't think about it until I just actually looked.
1:07
I'm like, wow.
1:08
We did it in like late September of 2011.
1:11
So we're beginning our seventh season.
1:13
And of course, you know, Cardinal Winton-Winn did his own thing.
1:17
And we added Mr.
1:18
Vegoe.
1:19
Veegs, how are you doing?
1:21
Fantastic.
1:21
Excited for fall and hockey season.
1:24
Well, hockey season is has arrived.
1:27
You know, the NHL started tonight.
1:29
And obviously Gophers had an exhibition last Sunday evening.
1:35
But also, joining us again is Nate Wells from The Athletic now, isn't it, Nate?
1:42
Or are you still going to be doing a lot of stuff with the Strib and Pioneer Press and everything else?
1:47
My main stuff is going to be The Athletic.
1:49
We'll see how everything else goes.
1:51
And of course, you're not the only one who's going to be writing for The Athletic.
1:54
Veegs, you're also one of Russo's guys that he's recruited to write for The Athletic.
2:01
Yeah, it's a great site.
2:02
Lots of good coverage out there for college hockey and hockey in general.
2:06
They cover prospects, the NHL teams.
2:08
So I think it's a pretty great site.
2:11
Well, it's definitely a dedicated site.
2:13
It is a pay site.
2:14
But if you look around the internet, you'll see quite a few deals out there for The Athletic for an initial subscription, right?
2:22
Isn't that right, Veegs?
2:24
Yeah, there's a 30% off for the NHL kicking off right now.
2:28
I know K-Fan's done some 20% off deals, because Russo is going to partner with them a little bit.
2:33
But 30% off, that's the best deal to do.
2:36
Yeah.
2:37
That's also three, four bucks a month right now for 30% off, which I mean, it's a cup of coffee for my work, for Vegoe's work, just quality college hockey.
2:50
Obviously, you get Michael Russo's work and just throughout the plenty of NHL writers, Ken Rosenthal for baseball, Seth Davis for college basketball, and just the list goes on.
3:00
I believe in even our buddy Mr.
3:03
Myers is writing for them too as well, isn't he?
3:06
Jess Myers?
3:07
Yeah, he sure is.
3:08
He'll kind of be like their big college hockey columnist, big picture guy.
3:13
We'll look forward to him this season.
3:15
We'll have to get him on the podcast as well, but obviously, it's a new season, boys, and going into this season, there's a lot of excitement.
3:25
The Big Ten seems a little stronger this year.
3:27
We've added another member to the Big Ten.
3:31
Hammy, are you excited to be back with Gopher Hockey here?
3:35
I mean, the optimism seems pretty good this year.
3:39
Yeah, I mean, I was talking about it with somebody the other day, and I said this is kind of like one of my favorite kinds of seasons where you have a lot of strong returning talent, but it's not so dominant that there's all these massive expectations right out of the gate, and then you have some young talented guys coming in that can make an impact.
4:01
So I mean, there's a lot there to be excited about, but it's like the expectations right out of the gate aren't necessarily like, kind of like Denver is facing this year with the massive expectations.
4:11
So it's kind of like, you know, you know, you could put it together and you can have that kind of a team, but it's also a little bit of wait and see, and there's a few things that have to be proven yet, and I think they'll prove it, but you know, it's not that way coming right into the season, so it's kind of nice.
4:28
Nate, are you sensing the excitement for Gopher Hockey?
4:32
Just around the team or in general?
4:34
In general, I mean, it seems that the outlook seems to be very positive for this season.
4:42
It does, and I was looking back throughout just the last decade or so of just USC at Joe Poles, it always seems like we're a little more positive to begin this year.
4:52
The Gophers always end up higher than they finish, but yeah, it's looking positive.
4:59
Lu is a pretty big and substantial senior class, but freshman class that comes in is a very talented one as well, obviously led by Casey Middlestadt.
5:09
A lot of guys who were maybe sophomores last year are going to look to take that next step to be juniors.
5:17
Well, the end of last season was disappointing with the first run loss in the NCAA tournament to Notre Dame.
5:23
Still at the end of the day, you're returning most talent from a team that was in the top five all last season.
5:33
Vegoe, do you have any initial thoughts on the return of Gopher Hockey?
5:39
Well, I think expectations are high this year because of the Frozen Four being in St.
5:44
Paul.
5:45
I think that's such an end cap on the season that everybody is looking forward to.
5:50
With Casey Middlestock coming in, I listened to Pat McLeoddy today.
5:53
He said he might be the best forward in college hockey.
5:56
I don't know if I'm quite there yet, but based on what I've seen out of this kid, he's going to be the one to watch, and he might be the one to get some energy back into Mariucci this year.
6:06
Well, let's talk about those freshmen coming in this season.
6:09
You obviously mentioned Casey Middlestock there, Veegs, and he is the stud.
6:15
I mean, he had four points in an exhibition the other night, and got the Gophers going with some great stick work that you captured on Instagram that went pretty viral Sunday night.
6:30
Is he really going to be that big?
6:33
I would be surprised if he's not a 15, 20 goal guy right away.
6:38
I mean, I think this guy could get 50 points.
6:41
His ability to separate from guys with a step or two and use his body position to protect the puck, to get shots off quickly that are heavy, where he hides the puck and changes the angle of the last second.
6:54
And the guy has just got some natural talent for scoring goals.
6:57
And then on top of that, his vision to find guys.
7:01
We've seen a couple of practices where he's surprising guys by hitting their tape with passes that you just didn't expect.
7:09
And he's able to zing it around.
7:12
There's gonna be a lot of points.
7:13
I think Rem Pitlick's gonna be a happy guy if he sticks together with Middlestead this year.
7:18
I would agree.
7:19
Hammy Middlestead, he's kind of the big man on campus now, isn't he?
7:24
Yeah, I mean, I think it's sort of, I think what's gonna be great for him is that he's gonna have a lot of talent out there with him.
7:31
And I think, you know, it's kind of ironic in high school hockey.
7:36
Everybody knows that they have to throw everything at him.
7:38
So he's getting two, three guys thrown at him.
7:40
And granted, he's way more talented than everybody out there, but it still makes it a little bit more challenging to operate.
7:45
And now when you see him at the USHL level, with some more talent around him, he was very successful.
7:52
And I think that a lot of it's because teams don't have the ability to just key on him.
7:57
And he's certainly going to have that talent with him on the ice at the U.
8:01
So I'm really excited to see him, especially with his speed and his skill on the big sheet, especially it's going to be very noticeable as we saw this last weekend.
8:11
And I expect him to have a pretty dramatic impact on the overall team this year.
8:17
Nate, you were there Sunday afternoon.
8:18
What did you think of Casey Middlestead's first step on Mariuccie Ice?
8:24
Well, it's hard to not notice him.
8:26
That's one thing.
8:29
He makes himself noticeable right away, especially in the offensive zone.
8:33
Just the stick handling, his ability to find teammates is just outstanding.
8:40
I thought a few things.
8:42
If you just go off the stats or whatever, I'm curious to see how this goes throughout the season.
8:47
I thought maybe a little bit on the defensive side, getting back.
8:51
They're playing him as a center, so he has a little bit more responsibility there.
8:55
That wasn't fully there yet in game one, especially early on.
8:59
He had a couple of times where he either just gave the puck away to another forward or just missed the opportunity and just wasn't back and kind of forced his defenders into a bad position.
9:12
But I mean, just offensively, the talent is there and saying he has to be the most anticipated freshman that they've had in there since, I'm thinking probably Kessel.
9:27
That's quite the shoes to fill if that's the case.
9:29
I mean, we've had quite a few superstars come in and some of them lived up to expectations, some of them didn't.
9:36
But one thing is that Casey isn't everything.
9:40
He is the entire freshman class and Vegs, there's a couple other guys that should be contributing this year from the freshman.
9:48
Let's start with Mr.
9:50
Brandon McManus.
9:52
What are your thoughts on him coming in from out of Omaha?
9:55
That was at least where he played last year.
9:59
Yeah, he's a California kid who had a buddy go to Shattuck St.
10:03
Mary's, and he heard some good things about that place and decided that was for him.
10:09
Then once he got to Shattuck, he continued developing and committed to Minnesota.
10:16
He said when he took his visit here and saw the rink and saw the atmosphere, he said, this is the place for him, and it was an impulse decision to commit.
10:25
Then as time went on, he figured out, yep, this is going to be a great place to play, and he brings a little bit of offensive flair.
10:33
He's a right-handed forward, which is something Donald Lucia desperately needs.
10:38
I know as they're filling out their power play units, they don't have too many right-handed forwards, and they're going to need some, so he's a guy who might be able to slot in the power play there, and I think they're looking for him to contribute some offensive flair.
10:51
Hammeh, what are your thoughts on Mr.
10:52
McManus?
10:56
It's funny.
10:57
It seems like we've been waiting on him for such a long time, because he committed at such a young age.
11:03
I think sometimes when they do that, you're a victim of having committed at that young age, because people have these massive expectations that if you commit at that age, then you automatically have to be a superstar when you get to college.
11:18
Sometimes they do end up that way.
11:21
Sometimes the expectations lower a little bit.
11:24
I think that that's happened with him, but I think that's going to be beneficial to him in the long run, because he's going to have other guys casting that shadow like Middlestead, and he'll be able to come in, find his role, and probably contribute nicely early on.
11:40
That's what I would expect.
11:41
I think that not having to deal with some of that pressure will be beneficial to him.
11:47
Nate, do you have any thoughts on Brannon?
11:50
A lot of what I think has been said already, but I agree with both Vego and Hammeh.
11:56
He won't have to carry the load and everything.
11:59
He had a lot of success with Chicago this past year after being traded from Omaha in the USHL.
12:05
They won the Clark Cup.
12:08
He was able to score in bunches during the playoffs.
12:11
I kind of expect to see a bit of that during the season, maybe go silent for stretches, but just find some grooves as he kind of adjusts to college.
12:21
And I mean, there's really of the three big freshmen forwards, I think just I'm really interested to see how he does more than anything.
12:31
One fun fact about Brandon is he wears number seven because he became a big Kyle Ryle fan as he committed and wants to go first.
12:39
So let's hope he has some of that same desire around the crease.
12:44
That would be nice, wouldn't it?
12:47
Let's go to a defenseman, Nate Knappke.
12:50
Is that how you say his name, Hammeh?
12:53
Knappke?
12:53
Knappke?
12:55
I'll just let you just stumble.
12:56
Knappke.
12:57
He'll let me stumble.
12:58
Thanks.
12:58
Appreciate it.
12:59
Stumble over.
12:59
I'm such a nice guy.
13:00
I know.
13:05
So what does he bring?
13:06
What does he bring to?
13:07
You know, he's obviously had the US.
13:09
National Development Team last year, local boy.
13:14
What's his deal?
13:16
Well, I mean, he's got good size.
13:17
You know, I think, you know, this year's team definitely doesn't have that, like that Mike Riley, you know, very dynamic offensive player out there.
13:27
And, you know, it's going to be kind of a team approach in terms of, you know, providing offense from the blue line.
13:33
And I think, you know, that's kind of exactly where Nate's going to fall in on this, is that he's going to kind of contribute a little bit here, get in there, you know, have that physical play.
13:43
But, you know, he's certainly not going to be a guy that's going to be razzle dazzle and yell over the ice.
13:47
So I just look for him to kind of find his way as a first year guy.
13:51
And you kind of really want them to be defensive first.
13:54
A lot of times with these guys, when they're coming in their freshman year, and just kind of get that part down pat, and then hopefully gain some confidence handling the puck as the season goes on.
14:04
Nate, do you think that Konepki could have some problems making the lineup?
14:09
I mean, we've had six fairly steady guys.
14:13
Who's going to be the odd man out?
14:17
That's a good question.
14:18
And I mean, one of the good problems, if you're Mike Gunn's on your download chair, is you have eight defenders that can probably play anytime.
14:26
You have a little bit more depth to deal with.
14:29
You don't have to fast track Konepki or Sam Racini, the other freshman.
14:35
And you have some room to play around with.
14:40
Well, you mentioned Racini.
14:42
Veegs, I don't even recall, did he play Sunday?
14:47
Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was out there.
14:49
He's back and healthy from his ACL injury.
14:55
He's a big kid who left high school early to go play in the USHL and has had a tough road with a lot of injuries in the last two years.
15:03
But he says he's healthy.
15:05
He said he had a good summer with Cal Dietz and he's ready to contribute this year.
15:10
He might be taking on a little bit slower than everybody, but he played with Jack Glover a little bit on Sunday.
15:17
Hammeh, Racini is a guy I recall seeing as committed for quite a long time, and he's finally hitting the ice for the Gophers.
15:26
Yeah, I mean, he's also, like Vegoe said, he's a physical kid, like I mentioned earlier, it's not going to be one of those razzle-dazzle types of guys, but I would hope that he would kind of, as time goes along in his college career, kind of develops into that more of a shut down guy that is going to provide you some physical play and then transition to Puck up to the forwards on the break.
15:50
So it's just one of those things where you just don't want to have too high of expectations for these young guys, especially defensive players, because that is a more difficult transition.
16:01
Nate, who is Cullen Munson?
16:05
I got to be honest, I really don't know who he is.
16:08
He is a 21-year-old freshman.
16:11
He was in Janesville in the North American Hockey League the last few years.
16:17
He was teammates with Tyler Nani and a bunch of those Edina guys at Edina High School.
16:27
So he is kind of filling in with that 15th forward position, trying to maybe get to find some time getting to that fourth line.
16:36
Is he going to play Munch, Hamie?
16:38
Or is he going to be kind of a role player further down the line when they kind of need an older guy maybe next season or maybe later this season if there's injuries?
16:48
Well, I mean, I think it's just one of those cases where sometimes with those lower line guys, you just want them to go out there and contribute occasionally and then give you some solid ice time.
16:59
So the other guys, other more offensive lines, get some rest and you're able to roll those lines.
17:05
And I don't know where he's going to fit in.
17:07
I mean, obviously we have some veterans that are coming back that kind of fit in those lower line roles.
17:12
And I would imagine that in time, he'll be kind of be filtering in and out.
17:17
And it'll be kind of a competition to see who's consistently in those spots.
17:23
Hammeh, can you tell me about Scott Reedy?
17:27
Well, he's definitely a kid that I think I mentioned earlier.
17:35
Some of these guys, they commit young and then they have these high expectations.
17:38
And this is definitely a case of a kid who had some pretty high expectations.
17:42
You know, he did pretty well at Shattuck and went on to the US team.
17:47
Didn't like do poorly there.
17:48
But I think that some people just have very high expectations based on what they see from the scouting community in some of these rankings that people do and whatever, you know, whether it's NHL or whatever it might be.
18:03
And I think that he was a little bit of a victim of that to some extent.
18:06
I think that those expectations kind of weigh on a player when they're that young and they have all that pressure.
18:11
And he's going to be, I think, a good solid offensive player.
18:14
I think he's going to contribute some good numbers this year.
18:17
Obviously, I don't expect him to be something like Casey Middlestad, you know, to that dramatic of an impact.
18:23
But I think, you know, we're looking at a guy that I think can certainly contribute into that, you know, maybe mid 20 point range, you know, possibly a little bit more, possibly a little less, but kind of, you know, in that general vicinity and be a pretty solid two-way player.
18:38
Vegs, any thoughts on Scott Reedy?
18:41
I think he's one of those examples of a guy who goes to the development team program and gets slotted kind of in that second tier of players.
18:49
And he just never was able to really break into that top six power play role consistently for them.
18:55
And he filled that role for that team.
18:57
You know, it's a tough season for those guys as they're playing older players in the USHL and doing all the travel and the tournaments and going through that strength program they have there.
19:07
You know, I see him on the ice now.
19:09
I think he's going to contribute a lot to this team.
19:11
He's a pretty decent size forward.
19:13
He's got good size and puck protection skills.
19:16
Again, another right-handed shot.
19:18
You know, I could see him being on that power play unit that right now is with Pitlick and Middlestadt.
19:23
And he can contribute on that group.
19:26
Well, I hope he can because we can use contributions from all over the place.
19:31
But typically you don't expect huge contributions from freshmen.
19:34
Obviously, Middlestadt is going to be a little different.
19:36
But Nate, we might see a decent contribution from another freshman come December once he's eligible, Matthew Robson, a goalie who might take over some time for Mr.
19:48
Shearhorn, you know, later on this season.
19:51
What do you think?
19:54
I think it's possible.
19:55
Some of the reasons why they kind of brought him in.
19:57
He's an older guy.
20:00
He has kind of a really interesting history where he at 16, he signed with the OHL, he got injured.
20:08
He ended up never really playing other than exhibition games.
20:11
So he has to sit out a year and a half for college in order to be eligible for the NCAA.
20:17
He did a year at that at Clarkson.
20:20
He transferred out after a year, hoping that he can maybe have a half year of juniors just have that playing in.
20:27
It didn't work that way.
20:29
He spent last season up at Peticton in the BCHL, which is kind of familiar grounds for Minnesota hockey.
20:36
A lot of people from this state go up there.
20:39
Marla Lucia played up there on this team.
20:42
San Racine also came down from there.
20:45
Riley.
20:45
Ramsey was there.
20:47
The Riley brothers.
20:48
The Riley brothers were up there.
20:52
It's a familiar ground there.
20:54
He was backstopped.
20:56
He was the best goalie in the BCHL last year.
21:00
He's a really interesting guy.
21:02
He's also the team's first Canadian in 10 years.
21:06
To bring that on and I talked with him.
21:08
I did a story on him last December when he committed, and he didn't shy away from that.
21:15
He was kind of really excited about being that person.
21:17
So I think that would be really interesting once he's eligible.
21:21
And this team really hasn't had in Eric Sheerhorn's first two years a backup option if he struggles or if they need to platoon to rest him during the season.
21:33
So I think that he gives them that option at the very least.
21:39
And I think one of the things with the coaching staff is they haven't been able to pull Sheerhorn either.
21:45
You know, there was that one game last year where they pulled him.
21:48
Lair came in, gave him a couple of goals, and they put Sheerhorn back in.
21:52
And now they have a guy they can turn to if Sheerhorn's having an off night, and they can count on them.
21:59
Yeah, and there was that stretch of about November or so when Sheerhorn was struggling, where he'd have the one good night and have the one bad night.
22:07
And it took them a long time to give any look at Lair.
22:12
Just, I think it was kind of less out of trying to get out of Sheerhorn, trying to get him to bounce back and just less having confidence than anyone else.
22:24
You know, I think people, well, I mean, I think, you know, one of the things too is that people don't really realize, there's been a lot of good goalies that come out of the BCHL.
22:33
I mean, it's a very offensive league.
22:36
And so obviously, goalies are facing a lot of offensive chances in that league and then to be, you know, putting up the kinds of numbers that he has, you know, this last year and to be, you know, that kind of a quality goalie, granted, you know, and plus he is older.
22:52
So it is kind of nice.
22:53
I think we've seen, you know, I've always talked about when we've seen goalies commit at a younger age that I personally don't like it because I think you can find some really high quality goalies that are available at age 19 or 20.
23:09
And I personally like the fact that, you know, we're bringing in a guy that is, you know, has seen a lot of ice time and juniors on different levels and is coming in as an older player and should provide some good competition with Shearhorn.
23:23
And I think that's only going to be of value for the team.
23:26
And, Hammeh, you mentioned that the BCHL is an offensive league.
23:30
He took them down the playoff stretch winning a lot of 1-0, 2-1 type games.
23:35
So this guy's got some experience from pressure situations.
23:39
You mentioned early recruits.
23:40
I mean, what didn't we have, what was his name, Halliday or something along those lines, Hammeh, that ended up not coming here?
23:49
Yeah, he just wasn't performing to the standards that, you know, they wanted when they first got him.
23:56
And, you know, they kind of had a situation where they were scrambling around for a while.
24:01
I mean, people forget that Scheerhorn was a real late addition.
24:03
Yeah, he was.
24:05
And to me, that was a great pickup for the Gophers at the time, all things considered.
24:11
I think we can probably thank Coach Gensel for that one, because I'm pretty sure that he had a big impact on that.
24:18
But I just think that that was a, you know, a good, that was a good pickup for us.
24:22
And I think in this instance, he's going to add some good competition.
24:27
And I think that, you know, have it at good depth in that position.
24:30
You can't beat that.
24:31
I mean, sometimes people will say, well, you want to have an obvious starter, and maybe you do.
24:35
But it's certainly nice to have that guy behind him that's going to provide something that you can feel confident in.
24:41
Now, is Robson officially a freshman, guys?
24:44
He's officially a sophomore.
24:46
Officially a sophomore.
24:47
Okay.
24:48
Yeah, he has two and a half years of eligibility.
24:52
Gotcha.
24:53
Makes sense.
24:55
We kind of consider him a freshman because he's recruited and coming in, but obviously due to some other playing and some transfers, he's a little bit older in his schooling years, not just his age.
25:07
And the NCAA doesn't like you to play anything with a major junior team, exhibition or regular games.
25:14
And that's kind of the reason why he played this past weekend, because it was an exhibition, it doesn't count.
25:19
It kind of did allow Lucia to get him in and get some kind of action before he's eligible in, what was it, the Ohio State Series, I believe he's eligible to play Vegas?
25:31
Yep.
25:31
The Ohio State Series.
25:32
That's the technical start of the second half.
25:35
Gotcha.
25:36
Makes sense.
25:38
Well, for the third year, we've got a sponsor on The GPL Podcast, Vintage Minnesota Hockey.
25:45
Kyle Owen is lovely enough to sponsor our podcast again this year.
25:51
So let's listen to what they have to offer.
25:55
vintagemnhockey.com is a proud sponsor of The GPL Podcast.
26:00
Well, what is Vintage MN Hockey?
26:03
Well, it's kind of the place to get all of your history of Minnesota hockey, from the pros to the minors, to the collegiate teams, to even the high school teams.
26:13
All information about any of those teams can be found on vintagemnhockey.com.
26:18
They also have great interviews with some historical Minnesota hockey figures, like John Mayessich and Lou Nanny, Glenn Sanmore, some of the greats of Minnesota hockey.
26:27
So make sure you check out those interviews.
26:29
It's a really great thing.
26:30
But as I always say, I think my favorite part is the store.
26:34
The store, you can buy a custom historical jersey from the Gophers or the Bulldogs or some of your favorite high school teams.
26:41
And if you do make a purchase, just use the code GPL Podcast, all one word, and you'll get 10% off your order.
26:49
So make sure you visit vintagemnhockey.com and follow them on Twitter at VintageMNHockey.
26:56
And we thank Vintage for, again, sponsoring us for another season.
27:00
It's going to be another fun season for the GPL Podcast.
27:03
Remember, we record this live on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m.
27:09
Around there, we try to start at that time.
27:11
You can listen to us live on GPL or via the Mixler app.
27:17
We've got about 30 people listening live right now.
27:19
That kind of gives us the interactive piece of the podcast, where we can view your questions and answer them live.
27:27
We're a little full today, but that's always nice to have that.
27:32
It's nice to have you listening most of the time, Nate, because you listen live.
27:35
A lot of times, you're answering our questions for us.
27:39
I enjoy listening to you guys.
27:40
It's always a fun podcast.
27:43
It's basically an extension of our conversations at the rink.
27:47
It sort of is.
27:48
This year, Mixler took away their free one hour of broadcasting a day.
27:56
I actually had to pay some money, about $9 a month.
28:00
It allows us up to three hours.
28:01
So if we go over the hour limit now, we're not going to go off the air, at least listening live.
28:07
So we don't have to worry about that anymore, because we've got up to three hours we can talk.
28:10
We're not going to talk that long, but we have that opportunity.
28:13
So it's a nice feature to be able to do the show live and have people interact with us.
28:18
And you can always just send us questions.
28:20
You just use the hashtag GPL Podcast, and we'll try to answer them a little tough this week because it's the first weekend and we got a lot going on.
28:29
But we appreciate all you live listeners.
28:31
And it's definitely nice to be back.
28:36
Hammy.
28:37
Jub, let me ask you something.
28:39
Go ahead.
28:39
You are going to be sad that this year I won't have Cammie to talk about.
28:48
You're going to be sad that that's no longer going to be a topic.
28:51
Cammie was a nice whipping boy for us.
28:55
And I think the problem was we know we had skill, and there was times that he performed well.
29:02
I think the biggest frustration for me and for a lot of people is that he showed about as much excitement as a burnt piece of toast.
29:11
It's like he didn't care he was there, and he didn't care that he just scored a big goal or whatever.
29:18
One thing that we've always...
29:19
See, now I have you going off.
29:21
You do have me going, but...
29:22
I just had to burn him up.
29:23
He graduated.
29:24
It's okay.
29:24
Yes, he graduated.
29:27
But you understand what I mean.
29:28
We'll find a new whipping boy, won't we?
29:32
I hope not.
29:35
There's a running bet for the year.
29:37
You can have your whipping boy standings.
29:41
We're going to steal that idea, Nate.
29:43
We're going to use it.
29:45
I'm sure it'll be a defenseman because they usually are the ones that get pointed out.
29:50
Oh, man.
29:50
We've had a lot of fun over the years as defensemen.
29:54
It's just, it's just, we love doing it.
29:56
We'll take the cues from GPL, like the game threads and whatever.
30:03
That's where we'll see who the whipping boy is going to be this year.
30:07
Well, my whipping boy last night was Joe Mauer, and I just had some fun on Twitter last night, and it was a blast.
30:14
People don't like that when you go after the hometown kid.
30:17
They don't, but sorry, facts are facts.
30:19
He doesn't perform in the playoffs.
30:22
That's just how I feel.
30:23
Obviously, that's not the reason they lost last night, but it'd be nice if he actually got a hit, a timely hit in a key situation in the playoffs, because he failed to do that yet.
30:34
That hit in the ninth inning wasn't enough for you?
30:39
Don't get me going.
30:40
Don't get me going on Mauer.
30:41
I'm a puck it guy.
30:43
All right.
30:43
Anyway.
30:44
Well, let's talk about some key returning players, guys.
30:47
You know, we've got a lot of guys back this year, and one key guy who got injured last year, Vig, that is back, and he felt pretty good on Sunday, didn't he?
30:59
Are we talking about Tommy Novak?
31:00
Oh, yes, I am.
31:02
And he's back in his comfy spot on his off wing on the power play, which is exciting to see.
31:09
I think he looked at his best all last season when he was running the power play there against North Dakota.
31:15
And because of some issues on the forward roster, they flipped him to the other side, and he just wasn't as effective anymore on the other side because he's limited his options.
31:25
But he looks back, and his hands are there, his vision's there.
31:28
I think it's going to maybe take a little while for his skating to come back.
31:33
So I think his wings are going to have to help him a little bit in the defensive zone.
31:37
Maybe if they're the first guy back, back checking, they might take over center responsibilities a little bit for him.
31:43
But I think he provides them with a great player on the power play and a good pivot.
31:48
Thoughts on Novak, Nate?
31:51
It was great to see his playmaking.
31:54
I almost forgot how much Minnesota missed that over the second half and down the stretch.
31:59
He had a few opportunities, even strength, where he almost anticipated a teammate and a line mate making a move before the person did, and just would find passes and set up players in just the smallest areas, which worked out really well.
32:17
It was nice also to see him get that last, it doesn't count or anything, to get that last goal off of the power play.
32:24
I've spoken to him after the game, he'd tell how much it meant to him just to get that, given it was his first game in nearly nine months, just to get a little bit of the rest off and everything.
32:35
I mean, that's sometimes people don't really realize that.
32:39
Even though it was an exhibition game, he was participating quite a bit, it did look like he was back, he scored a goal and you get that off your shoulders right away.
32:49
That's a key process in coming back from an injury.
32:54
I agree, I mean, you want to have that kind of nice start to the season, especially when you're coming off that injury.
33:00
And I know we all talk about those exhibitions not meaning much, but certainly you want to have some kind of momentum when you go into the games that actually do count.
33:11
And I really have always been impressed with his playmaking ability.
33:17
I think that what would be nice is if we start seeing him score a few more goals.
33:25
I think that he's got 11 through his career ground.
33:28
He was injured halfway through last year.
33:29
But the point being is that he's a very good playmaker, but I think it would be even more dangerous if he is getting maybe twice as many pucks in the net as what we have seen so far.
33:40
So hopefully he's going to be shooting the puck a lot more and not just looking for his teammates.
33:46
So he has some of that balance out there.
33:49
Now, Vegues, another key loss at the end of the season was a defenseman, Lindgren, with his leg injury last year.
33:57
He was also back this past weekend and I think he's going to be a key member as well this season.
34:04
I think especially because the Blue Lions got those big question marks because Jake Bischoff is gone.
34:09
This is one of the first years in my memory that Minnesota doesn't have a really dynamic defenseman coming back or coming in and so I think he's going to be a steady player.
34:21
He's real physical, hard nose in the corners.
34:24
He's going to be good for this team.
34:26
He leads that right way with intensity.
34:29
I was surprised to hear how much he had to rehab his ankle to come back because I think it was a leg fracture that he was coming back from.
34:36
He said he really had to work on that a long time.
34:38
He missed the Bruins development camp skating because of it.
34:42
He was able to practice with the World Junior Team.
34:45
Some of them didn't play in any of the games, so he didn't have to deal with the contact.
34:49
But he's going to be a key cog for them and a key leader for them too, a sophomore assistant captain.
34:56
Nate, who else out there would you like to see step up his game even more this year?
35:02
One person I thought he did it a little bit towards the end of last season, a little under the radar, is Brent Gates Jr.
35:12
He's another guy.
35:12
He scores a bunch.
35:13
And when he scores, it seems like he scores a bunches.
35:15
He had a couple in the exhibition game.
35:17
Doesn't count.
35:18
But it just seems like every time that he gets on the ice every weekend, he gets better and better.
35:23
He spent a lot of time this off season in the weight room, working out and building up a little strength.
35:30
And he's a younger guy.
35:33
He's a junior.
35:34
He was one of the youngest.
35:36
He's a really young 18-year-old freshman when he came in.
35:39
And it just kind of seems like if Minnesota is going to take that step, and continue to reach those high expectations that people have, they're going to need guys like Brent Gates Jr.
35:49
to perform and make that adjustment, make that development into that next level.
35:56
Yeah, Gates definitely stepped up in the exhibition game, Vegues.
36:00
He also talked to us after the game, and he seems to kind of be evolving nicely for the team.
36:10
Yeah, he's carrying himself really well.
36:12
He's confident in what he did this off season, changing his diet, dedicating himself to the game.
36:17
It's one of those years that he didn't have any injuries to deal with.
36:20
So he's a confident player, and I think he's going to get put in positions where he's going to be able to surpass his 14 goals last year.
36:28
He could be a 20-goal guy for this team.
36:30
He shoots the puck really, really well, and now he's a little bit bigger to handle himself, and he's another guy who's going to get power play time, and it looks like he could be one of those guys in the middle of the ice.
36:41
So, it's a big opportunity for him.
36:44
We've got another new guy who's not a new guy, Hammey, but Tyler Nani is going to be playing some defense this year.
36:52
We've kind of wondered if he was going to be playing at all due to his some health conditions, but what can you tell us about Nani?
36:59
Obviously, we know about his grandfather and whatnot, and the rest of his family and relatives, but what can he bring to the team this year?
37:08
Well, I think that he can bring some of that offensive flair to the team.
37:15
Now, I'm not saying he's going to be like a Mike Riley type or anything like that, but he did play forward in defense when he was younger, kind of switched back to defense, a little bit going back and forth, and obviously, he's got that ability to hold the puck and find open guys and create some offense.
37:34
So I think that because he hasn't played in a while, that maybe he's underestimated in that sense.
37:40
Granted, we still have to see him out on the ice on this level because he didn't play at all with Ohio State.
37:46
So it's one of those things where he's kind of flying under the radar a bit, and I think everybody's kind of waiting to see what he might provide.
37:55
But based on his past history, I think that there's certainly the ability there for him to provide some of that offense, and now it's just a matter of getting back on the ice and getting his legs and getting used to the pace of the college game.
38:10
Veegs, any other cogs that we should be talking about this early in the season?
38:16
Well, I think Mike Smetula is going to be leaned on heavily this year.
38:20
He's a guy whose motor is probably tops on the team at retrieving pucks and getting in on the forecheck, and you have to remember he was injured the second half of last year as well.
38:31
I think he's a guy that Lucia is probably going to count on at the end of the game.
38:35
You look at all the centers they have, he's probably the most defensive of the four, and probably the more sacrificing guy, and he's 25.
38:44
So he's got tons of experience.
38:46
So I think he's a guy you're going to have to count on this year.
38:50
Well, I mean, if you look at his background, I mean, he's pretty much close to a point per game player throughout his college career, not quite there, but almost right there.
38:58
So I would expect given his age and the experience level, that he should have a pretty, you know, very good year.
39:06
And he nearly had a point per game last season, 25 points in 28 games.
39:11
So yeah, it kind of seemed like when he was in and when he was healthy, both him and Winovac, it gave Minnesota more options and more lines or so.
39:22
And as that season went on and more and more injuries came in, it was a little bit more forced into relying on Clues, Sheehy and Pitlick.
39:33
We haven't even talked about Sheehy and Pitlick.
39:35
These guys are, obviously Pitlick had a pretty darn good freshman season.
39:40
And we saw him lined up with Middlestead this past weekend, and they looked fabulous.
39:45
I mean, we have quite a few weapons here, Nate.
39:51
They do.
39:52
I think it says a lot that you just went through and asked probably about a half dozen forwards.
39:58
And you didn't talk about the guy who scored 53 points in the season, and you didn't talk about the guy who had 11 goals in the last month and a half.
40:09
Well, we're getting to him now.
40:12
I mean, Sheehy, obviously he led the team in scoring last year, didn't he?
40:17
He did, he had the most points in Minnesota in about 10 years or so.
40:22
I think Brian Patoni was the last one to have more than him.
40:26
So obviously, he could be the superstar of the team that no one saw coming because Middle Stead is getting all the talk.
40:37
That's true.
40:38
And that's also one of the things that helped them last year, playing with Justin Kluce and playing with Rem Pitlick.
40:46
They all worked off well off of one another.
40:48
They all were able to get opportunities.
40:52
You can focus on one or have that.
40:55
Another thing I'm really interested in seeing how Shihi does this year is handling being captain.
41:01
It's not the easiest adjustment for an individual.
41:05
We've seen people in the past struggle with their game while trying to lead the team.
41:13
And it's something that you can't really prepare until you're thrust into that role.
41:19
And it seems like the team is really behind Shihi as captain.
41:25
It was a very easy choice for them to choose who was going to be it.
41:29
And I'll be interested to see how that goes.
41:32
He has some high expectations with how last season ended.
41:37
And just the points that he put up, the goals that he was able to do.
41:41
And it will be great to see.
41:45
Veegs, I'm excited for Shihi this year.
41:48
I think he could be a top five scorer in the league.
41:54
Yeah, it's pretty amazing to see what he did and know that he had a slip disc last year that bothered him almost the entire season.
42:03
That nobody talked about and knew about.
42:05
Nobody talked about it.
42:06
No one really noticed it.
42:08
And he was still able to produce all of those points.
42:10
And he's a guy also who spent a lot of time around the net in the power play.
42:14
So it's not like he was just sitting on the perimeter, like, you know, a camera out of mine.
42:20
He was a guy who was going in the net.
42:22
And he was still able to produce.
42:24
And I think that speaks a lot to his character and his work ethic.
42:27
And I think that's probably something that his teammates saw and why they're so behind him being captain.
42:33
He's not a vocal guy.
42:35
He leads by example.
42:36
And I think playing hurt all year and putting up points like that goes a long way for showing off to your teammates.
42:42
But also, you know, Hammey, we've got this freshman last year who contributed quite a bit.
42:47
Mr.
42:47
Pitlick, I don't think he's going to have a sophomore slump.
42:54
I'm also looking forward to see what he can do this year.
42:58
Yeah, honestly, for me, he's probably the player that I enjoy.
43:04
I mean, I'm really looking forward to seeing him play this year and seeing what kind of a step he makes in his development.
43:10
He might be my favorite player on the team just because he's kind of, you know, one of those guys who just is all over the ice.
43:16
He's, you know, kind of the rink rat type, you know.
43:21
He, we talked about it kind of last year on the podcast.
43:25
You almost want to see him shoot the puck more because he's got such a great shot and he's very accurate, strong shot.
43:31
And sometimes you just want to see him shoot it even more than he does because he's really got the ability to light the lamp.
43:40
And I'm really excited to see, you know, what an off season and the weight room and everything that he's been doing with the team, what he might look like coming in this year because if he progresses based off of what we saw last year, he's going to be very exciting this year.
43:56
Well, I'm definitely excited to see Mr.
43:57
Pitlick advance his game a little more.
43:59
And I'm just excited for the team all around.
44:02
I mean, obviously, we've struggled in the postseason recently.
44:11
We've struggled with Minnesota teams.
44:14
We've really struggled with Duluth of the...
44:16
What is it?
44:17
The last seven games, they've lost to Duluth.
44:19
And now we head up to the Lions' Den this weekend, Friday evening with the icebreaker matchup against the Bulldogs.
44:27
And I'm feeling pretty good about this.
44:32
It's funny.
44:33
The thing about this team is we're looking at their defenseman or we're a little bit worried about there's a dynamic guy that could come in to play as an advantage this weekend because you don't have guys who are looking to make splashy plays getting out of their zone.
44:48
You've got guys who are defensive defenseman first, looking for that good pass, looking for their forwards early, you know, managing the puck better.
44:56
The problem that's happened in these games, they have too many guys forcing the puck up of the ice, creating turnovers, shortening the rink and getting caught in transition.
45:05
I think you look at some of these Duluth games and St.
45:08
Cloud games, that's been what's killed them, is turnovers coming out of their own zone or turnovers at the offensive blue line.
45:15
So hopefully this team has learned those lessons and they don't force the game as much.
45:21
One of the big things Lucia has been talking about this year is getting the forwards involved in the forecheck.
45:26
And one way you forecheck is if you, you know, chip the puck in and go get it.
45:30
So that would be something to watch for on Friday night.
45:34
Hammey, heading up to Duluth.
45:36
It's a fun road trip.
45:38
But playing Duluth has not been good these last few years.
45:44
Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's any argument that can be made that they've pretty much handled the Gophers pretty well in recent seasons.
45:52
I don't know exactly if it's a matter of just, you know, they've been getting up for games more than the Gophers have and been executing when they've been on the ice against the Gophers.
46:02
They've certainly had some good players on the Bulldogs in recent years.
46:07
They lost a lot of talent off this last year's team, some of it early.
46:12
But they bring in some good players, some good young guys, and defensively, they're a little young, but they have some real good talent.
46:18
So it should be an interesting game.
46:21
I do believe we should win the game, but I'm certainly not expecting it to be any kind of a cakewalk.
46:26
The Gophers got to go up there and start kind of showing some more of that pride that we expect out of them in these in-state series.
46:34
And hopefully this is going to start it off for the year.
46:38
Nate, the Bulldogs were in the National Championship Game last year.
46:41
They have lost quite a bit from that team.
46:44
A lot of underclassmen decided to leave.
46:48
They are not as good as they were last year, but it's still Duluth.
46:52
It's in Duluth.
46:54
And Duluth has dominated the Gophers lately.
46:58
They have.
46:59
And they get up for these games.
47:03
I saw a quote from Scott Sandlin today, where he literally said, when you play in this program, you don't like Minnesota, period.
47:10
I can't really say that was much of the mood here in Minneapolis, but that's the same thing you see when St.
47:19
Cloud plays Minnesota or Mankato or Bemidji.
47:24
The game Minnesota, the Gophers take this game seriously.
47:27
They're looking to kind of take it over and have a new year.
47:30
And like, while we said that the Bulldogs are coming off of a year where they reach the National Championship game, they also have a lot of turnover and have a bit of a new year themselves with five of their sixth defensemen either graduated or left early.
47:51
They lost five of their sixth top scorers.
47:55
They graduated or are leaving early.
47:58
Hunter Misca, who is by far the best freshman goalie in the nation, signed and went through a pro.
48:04
They're in their third goalie in three years.
48:06
So this might be a good time if you're Minnesota to play a UMD team that is kind of trying to find itself.
48:17
But it's still, you got these new freshmen coming in, even Middlestead.
48:22
Obviously, Middlestead's played in front of the big state tournament championship games, but that's not a hostile atmosphere like Amsoil will be this weekend, Veegs.
48:34
It's been a while since Minnesota's obviously won up there, but it's not an easy place to play, and it'll be definitely a good learning experience for this team.
48:46
It's a good learning experience, but I think if you're going to look at the past matchups with Duluth, this is the one where Minnesota's got a pretty big advantage.
48:55
Nate mentioned Nick Wolf is the only returning defenseman who played really for Duluth, so they've got a lot of green defensemen back there.
49:05
Losing their freshman goalie, they're going to have a new guy in there, hasn't seen a lot of time.
49:09
They lost two-thirds of their scoring, two-thirds of their power play.
49:13
Now, this is a Duluth team that's got a lot of question marks.
49:16
If Minnesota can't get it done this weekend, you know, alarm bells are going to go off for Gopher fans.
49:22
I agree.
49:24
The biggest question mark is are they able to control their emotions, stay out of the box and manage the puck?
49:30
And that's been what's killed them in these in-state games, is they don't do any of those things.
49:35
Fieggs is already hitting the panic button after one game.
49:40
It's going to set off the alarm bells.
49:42
If they lose this game, you'll panic.
49:45
It's a tough schedule to open up this season.
49:47
It is.
49:48
They're not going to get a cake team on Saturday, regardless of what happens, and then they'll play a Penn State team that's going to be a high-volume team, and then they go up to North Dakota.
49:57
So it's not an easy start for these guys, and they only have 10 non-conference games, so this is an important one to take seriously.
50:04
They haven't performed in these games in the past, so until they do, you got to be a little cautious as a follower of this program.
50:12
Well, let's talk about the other side of the bracket there, Nate.
50:15
We've got Michigan Tech and Union facing off Friday afternoon.
50:20
The winner plays the winner of Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota on Saturday.
50:25
It depends on where they're going to play.
50:28
Obviously, Duluth is going to play the night game Saturday night, no matter what.
50:31
But what are your thoughts on Union and Michigan Tech?
50:35
It's an interesting matchup.
50:37
You have two teams that made the NCAA tournament, actually all four teams made the NCAA tournament last year.
50:45
It makes a fantastic icebreaker for that reason.
50:51
Union lost a lot of talent, the graduation or leaving early, Spencer Fu lose a Hoby Baker finalist, and Mike Vecchione.
51:01
Michigan Tech is where they have a first-year head coach, Mel Pearson moved over to Michigan after just become the second Michigan head coach in my lifetime.
51:17
You have a lot of unknown and question marks.
51:20
Both teams have already played a game, so there's not really an advantage there.
51:24
I believe they both lost.
51:28
They both play decent teams.
51:29
It looked like Michigan Tech put up a good effort to Wisconsin in the Hall of Fame game.
51:35
Union played a BU team that ranked number two in the nation.
51:40
These are all going to be good tests for Minnesota.
51:44
It's a difficult opening schedule, but I like it because it's going to tell a lot about what Minnesota is made of just with these early games.
51:53
There's a lot of good teams and there are a lot of teams that they might see later on down the line, but they're also not kind of, especially with their young freshmen and kind of trying to find their own way, they're not in the worst, they're not being thrown off the deep end.
52:08
They're playing teams that are also kind of in similar situations where you got Union and Michigan Tech trying to do new systems and have new players.
52:17
North Dakota has a good freshman class, but lost two first-round picks.
52:23
Penn State is at home where if you're going to play Penn State, you'd probably rather have them at Mariucci on the big ice against that team.
52:34
So it's going to be interesting.
52:36
It's definitely going to be interesting.
52:38
Like Vegas said though, Minnesota doesn't play well against Duluth Friday night.
52:45
I'm with you, Vegas.
52:46
The panic buttons will go off with the fans because Minnesota is supposed to be better than Duluth this year, and the problem is they need to show it.
52:55
I'm not saying bring your panic button in the first five minutes, but if this game progresses where they're playing from behind, it's going to be a tough environment for them to rally in.
53:07
This team has plenty of firepower to come back.
53:09
We saw that last year as well.
53:11
They were able to score goals to come back in games, but this is an environment you don't want to do that in.
53:17
You definitely don't want to do that at all.
53:20
Well, what else do we have to talk about here, guys?
53:23
Nate, were you saying something?
53:25
I was going to say, I think they're in that same exact situation two years ago, last time they were up in Duluth, where it was kind of just a young team, young captain, and not many seniors where they went behind to nothing early in the first period and just were trying to play from behind the entire way and couldn't do it.
53:45
Well, I know I'm making my first trip up there since the 2011-2012 season.
53:52
It's been a while since I've been up there.
53:53
That might have been the first year or maybe the second year the arena had opened up there.
53:58
Last time I was there, the Gopher swept Duluth, so it was a good feeling then, but obviously since then they've really stunk up there and down here and everywhere else they've played Duluth so.
54:10
It's been like the last few years before that they seem to have Duluth's number for a bit.
54:15
Yeah, yeah, well that's because Duluth sucks.
54:19
And of course the only way to watch it is either be there in person or buy the NCHC TV streaming package.
54:26
Unless you're close enough to pick up the TV signal.
54:29
Unless you can get My9.
54:31
Yeah, you have to get My9 out of Duluth.
54:32
If you can get that, you're good to go, folks.
54:34
Otherwise, you got to buy the package.
54:36
And boy, the TV thing.
54:40
We've said this multiple times, folks.
54:43
In Minnesota, Fox and Big Ten have zero control of TV when it comes to being in Duluth or being at North Dakota.
54:54
Somebody like Midco in North Dakota, they bought the rights.
54:57
They're not going to share it with Fox.
54:58
They don't want to because they want all the advertising revenue.
55:00
They don't want people leaving their station to watch it on Fox.
55:06
There's nothing Minnesota can do about it.
55:08
It's just the way it is, folks.
55:11
So don't complain to us.
55:13
Complain to them.
55:15
It's just a fact of life now, you know, with all these conferences breaking up, everyone's got their own little TV contracts.
55:21
And you're just going to have to live with it.
55:25
That's the most disappointing part of college hockey is it's so impossible to get non-conference games on TV for that reason.
55:33
I mean, it's not like the Big Ten is any better or they don't show non-conference games really either.
55:38
Nope.
55:38
Anything they do is usually Minnesota at home.
55:42
But CBS Sportsnet showing Minnesota St.
55:46
Cloud later in the year.
55:49
That's really about it as far as national games go.
55:51
It looks like NBC Sports Network did pick up one of the Notre Dame games at Notre Dame later in the season.
55:58
The second game is going to be streamed only.
56:00
So that makes the GPLers happy.
56:06
It's just the way it is these days, folks.
56:08
Those other schools have control and they can do what they want.
56:11
So bitch at them.
56:13
Don't bitch at us.
56:16
Well, guys, what else do we have to talk about?
56:18
I mean, we kind of covered a lot and we'll cover much more Big Ten stuff next week.
56:21
And I'd kind of like to get into some of that controversy about young recruits next week.
56:26
But any final thoughts, Hammeh?
56:30
No, I mean, I think it'll be, like you said, we can touch on some of those kinds of topics in the coming weeks.
56:37
Just kind of going to be interesting to see how the team plays in some actual games that count and see how some of the young guys start off their college career.
56:47
And I'm excited for the year, though.
56:49
I think it's going to be a fun year.
56:50
And I think we have the opportunity to certainly do some great things.
56:55
Some of these guys can help create, add some more to the program's legacy.
56:59
And I think they have a great opportunity this year.
57:02
Nate, do you have any final thoughts?
57:05
I'm excited for the men's season to begin.
57:08
I'm pumped to go up to Duluth again.
57:11
I was just up there in August.
57:12
Took my girlfriend up there for the first time.
57:13
She's not Minnesotan, so she had never been up there.
57:18
And I'm pumped for that.
57:20
On the women's side, for those who pay attention, we're going to be a real interesting year for the Gopher women.
57:28
Check out Grace Samwinkle.
57:30
If you get the opportunity, she's worth the price of admission.
57:34
She was the Minnesota Mrs.
57:36
Hockey.
57:37
She's out of Breck.
57:38
She has an insane slap shot that is she's been kind of honing with Scott Bukstad and just has amazing skating and just like just an eye for the puck.
57:49
And it's kind of I don't like to make men to women's comparisons or whatever, but it feels really just it's really interesting that you have both Casey Milstead and her coming in the same year and kind of just having that same bit of excitement as freshmen.
58:02
But what happened to them Friday night?
58:03
You were there, man.
58:06
They got a lot of shots on her.
58:08
They have a bit of a young defensive core.
58:11
The lost two top defenders there and they basically just got countered a ton.
58:21
They just gave up all these 2-1-1, 3-2s, bad opportunities.
58:26
And it was disappointing.
58:28
They outshot them.
58:29
They outshot them 54 to 20 or so.
58:32
But playing by behind, you have a team that is going to put four players in front of the net, and you have a goalie that's hot.
58:41
Do you know what?
58:42
You can't really say too much if you give up four goals.
58:44
So yeah, they got upset by Merrimack.
58:47
Nate, are you guys doing a podcast this year?
58:50
Drew Cove and I, Drew writes for the Minnesota Daily.
58:55
We are doing a podcast.
58:57
I believe our first one is going to be next week.
59:00
We're finalizing what we're doing.
59:05
But yes, we are doing one.
59:07
It won't be with 1500 this year, but we are doing one.
59:10
And I'm excited to get that going too.
59:12
And if you guys want to come on, we're excited to have you on as well.
59:17
Well, Veegs, you and I are heading up Friday afternoon.
59:21
You're going to be covering for the Athletic.
59:24
And I'm going to be in full Rube mode for the first time in years, having screaming at the refs and what I love to do.
59:33
But we're road tripping this weekend, bud.
59:36
Should be fun.
59:37
I haven't been to Duluth in a while.
59:38
Last time I was there, I went to shoot out at Grandma's and got a...
59:42
A jersey...
59:43
.
59:43
Molson Canadian jersey, yeah.
59:45
Oh my gosh, that was a long time ago.
59:47
That's a long time ago.
59:49
That's mid-2000s, Veegs.
59:51
Yeah, it's been a while.
59:52
I believe I have a photo of that somewhere.
59:55
Yeah, a few times.
59:57
Yeah, so we're going to be heading up Friday afternoon to...
1:00:00
You know, late afternoon, I'm thinking maybe we should Periscope from the car.
1:00:04
We'll take people's questions while we're driving.
1:00:07
It's not like we'll have anything else to do.
1:00:10
So look for a live Periscope, maybe Friday afternoon.
1:00:14
Pre-game show.
1:00:17
Pre-game show, Veegs will be drinking in the car.
1:00:19
No, he won't.
1:00:21
But it'll be fun.
1:00:26
No.
1:00:28
You drink after the game.
1:00:30
You're telling me.
1:00:31
Yeah, I'm looking forward to the craft beer scene, craft gin scene there at Vickra.
1:00:37
I'll take the gin.
1:00:39
That gin you're showing me today looks pretty tasty.
1:00:43
So well, boys, I think that's it for this week.
1:00:46
I just want to let Ted know he was asking for a Noterman injury update.
1:00:51
He is probably going to be out for the year, double hip surgery.
1:00:55
So they hope to give him back skating at some point before the end of the season.
1:00:59
But he'll be out.
1:01:00
Double hip surgery?
1:01:02
Yep.
1:01:03
OK, I'm not I'm not kidding.
1:01:06
You know, that's that's what he's got going on.
1:01:08
So among other things.
1:01:13
I haven't said anything.
1:01:16
He good.
1:01:17
He's got hip problems.
1:01:19
I have hip problems too.
1:01:22
I'm getting old.
1:01:24
Well, Nate, thanks for joining us.
1:01:25
We're going to have you back on, I'm sure, again, later on this year.
1:01:28
And we'll push that podcast for you.
1:01:31
Sure.
1:01:32
Yeah, I believe we're going to be calling it that Gopher Hockey Puck Cast.
1:01:36
So if you follow me on Twitter at gopherstate and on Facebook, one of my, on Facebook, Nate Wells writes hockey on Facebook.
1:01:46
There you go.
1:01:47
I'm all up there and I put all my work across the bajillion places I've written at the gopherhockeyblog.blogspot.com.
1:01:58
And of course, you'll be listening each week and correcting us when we're wrong.
1:02:03
I will.
1:02:03
And I'll be going whatever, post game Friday, wherever we're going.
1:02:09
Interesting.
1:02:10
You heard it, Veegs, he's paying first round.
1:02:14
I don't think you went that far.
1:02:15
No.
1:02:18
All right.
1:02:19
Well, remember, you can always follow us at Gopher Puck Live on Twitter.
1:02:23
And obviously, you know, Veegs and Chris Etkes is writing for us all the time.
1:02:27
You could follow Hammy on Twitter at Hammy Hockey.
1:02:31
You could follow Vegoe on Twitter at E Vegoe and his work on at The Athletic.
1:02:37
I can't even spit it out.
1:02:38
We will be back next week to hopefully talk about a nice victory against the Luthans, whoever may be inside.
1:02:46
Preview, Penn State.
1:02:48
That's right, big games already.
1:03:16
You like this as a way to start the year, playing on either of them?
1:03:20
Well, I mean, you look at the month of October, and it's kind of, it sets up as a very difficult month, and introduction to our freshmen of what college hockey is all about, it'll be a good atmosphere on Friday night, and then we'll have a quick turnaround to play at four, no matter what, on game two.
1:03:37
But we're looking forward to it.
1:03:38
I mean, you just practice, and it was good that we played the exhibition game.
1:03:42
We were able to get a bunch of clips to show our guys, and things that we did well, and things that obviously you have to work on this early in the year.
1:03:49
What did you, after you looked at film of the exhibition, what did you think?
1:03:55
Well, I mean, I liked the defense of it.
1:04:00
I thought we played pretty well.
1:04:01
I think we only gave up like 13 five-on-five shots.
1:04:04
I like that part of our game.
1:04:05
I thought all three goalies were sharp.
1:04:08
I like the way our goaltenders played.
1:04:12
It was kind of choppy at times, offense.
1:04:13
Like, normally we score a lot off the rush.
1:04:16
We didn't have a lot of rush offense to our game, but I did like the fact that our end zone offense was better.
1:04:22
I mean, we got on top of some pucks.
1:04:24
Guys like Gates are stronger physically.
1:04:26
He worked on that part of his game, and you see the improvement there.
1:04:29
So, you know, I think we'll have the ability to score off the rush, but adding the ability to score down low is an important element of the game.
1:04:37
And the system little tweaks that we did, and I think you saw it show up in a positive manner on the video, which was good.
1:04:45
Like, we need to get our defensemen more involved in the offense.
1:04:48
I think we only had a couple of shots on goal by our decore in the game.
1:04:52
So, we got to get our forwards looking to our defensemen more, and getting our defensemen getting pucks on the net.
1:04:58
You've got a lot of returning forwards.
1:04:59
Do you think having that veteran experience helps that in zone offense?
1:05:02
Yeah, I think so, and what are we playing?
1:05:07
Three freshman forwards right now in our line up.
1:05:09
So, we do have some juniors and seniors, and it's something we've worked hard at the last couple of years to try to add that element and become better in those areas.
1:05:19
And I think the work is starting to pay off, and you see that.
1:05:22
But, you know, it's difficult to score in hockey now.
1:05:25
I mean, most teams, you're not going to get very many out-man rushes during the course of the game.
1:05:29
Power play, specialty teams are obviously an important place to score goals, but if you can start averaging two and a half goals a game or so, five on five, you add that power play goal and all of a sudden you're on a number that you can win with.
1:05:43
You had talked about Gates being a key guy.
1:05:45
Take a step and then he comes out and puts two in and run away.
1:05:48
How encouraged were you by that?
1:05:50
Well, I mean, he came in young.
1:05:52
I mean, he's probably one of the youngest guys in college hockey.
1:05:54
I think as a freshman, he was just turning 18, I believe, in September, and he was coming off a broken leg from the season before.
1:06:01
He missed the back half of the year.
1:06:02
So physically, I don't think he was caught up till probably January.
1:06:07
And then you could see from his freshman to his sophomore year, the skating and he's somebody that's putting a lot of work.
1:06:12
And you can see the work that he's put in.
1:06:14
And his skating is better, his physicality is better, his puck pursuit is better.
1:06:22
So all those things you hope to see, it's starting to pay off for him now.
1:06:27
Mike Scurtullo, can you talk a little bit about his gritty play and just what that really brings to the team and sort of set the example?
1:06:32
Yeah, I mean, very much like Cluse and Vinny were last year.
1:06:36
I mean, how they were such dogs on a puck and they played a very relentless style.
1:06:41
And that's how Mike plays.
1:06:42
And he's got a, you know, he's a bit of a bulldog and he's got to play that style.
1:06:47
I mean, he doesn't have the same skill as a couple other guys, but he scores his points through hard work and he's good along the net.
1:06:55
He's a good, you know, retrieve puck down low and he's responsible defensively.
1:06:59
The guy you can trust, you know, all of a sudden he's going to be an important guy at the end of the game in your head by a goal to throw out there in those defensive situations, too.
1:07:07
Because we got to find new guys, you know.
1:07:09
The new year begins, you got to find those new roles.
1:07:11
I mean, last year, he was out there, but Vinnie was out there and Kluese was out there and Bischoff was out there.
1:07:18
So those guys that were, took those heavy minutes, not only did they score a key goal, but they played in the other end of the rank too.
1:07:25
They were very good defensively.
1:07:27
Now, some guys have to play in those roles and play that heavier, play with some heaviness down in our own zone too.
1:07:35
You'd seen Casey practice in high school and stuff.
1:07:39
Did anything stand out when the lights came on?
1:07:42
Yeah.
1:07:42
I mean, obviously, he's got a special skill set.
1:07:45
You know, his quickness, you know, his first step quickness, has really improved over, I mean, from his sophomore year in high school.
1:07:55
His hands are extremely quick in vision and, you know, he's got things you don't teach.
1:08:01
But as I said before, he's got a very good work ethic.
1:08:06
I showed him a couple of video clips just on angling and very receptive to coaching because he wants to be a player.
1:08:12
And we got a whole roomful of those guys and they've been very receptive so far the year has begun.
1:08:18
But now we need to start playing, continue to play games and get in the routine, which we'll have now until December.
1:08:25
You know, you play Friday over two games over the weekend and then we go back to work and analyze what went well and things you need to work on and do some film work for the guys so they can keep trying to improve.
1:08:36
You've had experience over the past few years with guys having to sit out of year and transfer and then coming in and play right away.
1:08:41
How do you help them adjust?
1:08:43
Well, I think the year of practice helps.
1:08:45
You know, you look at Tyler that, you know, he sat out, he didn't do anything his freshman year physically and then he came back and practiced with us all year long.
1:08:54
So I think that that's helped.
1:08:57
And then you can play in the summertime as well.
1:08:59
So it's a lot easier to come in and adjust because you've been practicing and playing even though you haven't had games.
1:09:04
So you need, it's going to take time to have the game reps where it means something when you don't box out or a guy puts a puck in the net or you make a bad pass.
1:09:14
And it's not like the old practice or pond hockey where you just get it out of your net and keep going.
1:09:18
I mean, there's a real consequence now, but he's worked hard, he wants to be a player, and we're very pleased with what we've seen so far from him.
1:09:28
Going off of that, how do you help ease the new freshman transition?
1:09:32
Well, I think that's part of that, the older guys.
1:09:35
They've all played at a pretty high level.
1:09:37
I mean, you look at what we played in the US team last year, and obviously, Casey being in the USHL, and we had the World Junior Camp this summer.
1:09:48
Brandon's played two years in the USHL, so they have quite a bit of experience coming in.
1:09:55
And so the older guys kind of share on how it's done.
1:09:59
And I think as coaches, you have to be a little bit more patient with freshmen.
1:10:02
I've always tried to be that way.
1:10:03
And I'm not going to yell and scream at a freshman as much as try to kind of guide them along, at least halfway through the year.
1:10:10
But you also have to make sure you're firm with what the expectations are.
1:10:14
But all three of those guys are motivated and you don't want to be a player.
1:10:19
That's why they're here.
1:10:20
Officials get memos every year about what enforce more strictly each season.
1:10:25
Do you sense that that's going to happen again this year?
1:10:27
And are you guys ready to play a lot of power play in Valley Hill?
1:10:29
In the month of October or the month of February we talked about?
1:10:35
Right?
1:10:36
Isn't that how it works?
1:10:38
I can still remember a year ago being up in Alaska looking at some box scores because I hadn't even looked at the NCAA video.
1:10:44
Oh my God, there's 10, 15 power plays in a game and I had to quickly remind our guys, okay guys, this is what's going on around the country.
1:10:53
I hope not, I mean, I hope we're not in the game.
1:10:55
This game's this weekend where there's 7-8 power plays each way.
1:10:58
Just it disrupts the flow of the game.
1:11:02
Doesn't get guys involved.
1:11:03
Some guys sit and it really takes away the flow.
1:11:06
But at the same time, I mean, I'm not blaming the officials.
1:11:08
I mean, the players have to adjust to how the game is going to be played.
1:11:11
It's a non-rule year so they should pretty much have an understanding of how they're going to call it and, you know, call what needs to be called.
1:11:22
And it's up to the players to adjust.
1:11:24
And whether it's, you know, last, our exhibition game, we took some senseless cross-checks in the back.
1:11:29
Those are penalties.
1:11:30
You know, keep, keep calling them.
1:11:32
You know, call the hooks.
1:11:33
And we want to watch a flowing game.
1:11:36
Nobody wants to see guys getting, you know, bear hugged along the boards.
1:11:40
I mean, I think one thing great about watching NHL game now, I mean, you pretty much know when there's a penalty and when there's not.
1:11:46
And they've done a good job at such a skating game of, you don't see their reaching.
1:11:51
You don't see the slashing, or they call it.
1:11:54
Okay, one of Gates' things about playing the Lutherans, you know, it's a whole new year.
1:11:59
Do you want your leaders to kind of take that approach, like forget that recent past against these teams?
1:12:03
Well, yeah, I mean, it's, you know, we've got ten non-league games.
1:12:07
And, you know, we did well in our non-league games last year, and it really helped us.
1:12:10
And, you know, we touched on already the difficult ten non-league games we have.
1:12:16
And, you know, this is our first chance to try to have some success non-league.
1:12:22
And, you know, hopefully we'll, even though it's early, with a week of practice, basically, that, you know, we can jump right into it and play well.
1:12:29
What do you know about Duluth heading into this weekend?
1:12:32
Well, I mean, not a lot.
1:12:33
I mean, we have one game, but, you know, we know that they're going to, you know, play much like we do.
1:12:38
They're going to, you know, want to push the pace.
1:12:40
They're going to be a heavy four-checking team.
1:12:43
They've got a new goalie that's going to be playing.
1:12:45
And some young defensemen.
1:12:47
And hopefully we can follow.
1:12:49
They've got some, you know, elite young guys.
1:12:51
And, you know, a lot of returning forwards that have experience in college hockey.
1:12:56
So, it'll be a really good test.
1:12:58
They're picked, I think, in their league, third or fourth in the league, so top half.
1:13:03
And, you know, we'll play three of the top four ranked teams in the NCHC, at least preseason going into the year.
1:13:09
And, you know, four out of the five games are going to be on the road.
1:13:12
So, they'll be a really good test for us.
1:13:15
With kind of a four-team tournament, do you just put your focus on Duluth and then not much on the other team?
1:13:19
Yeah, I mean, the reality is so much of you're putting your focus on your own team.
1:13:22
I mean, you know, we'll show some video, but I mean, the reality is we're trying to get our team to play the way we would like them to play.
1:13:30
And it's not necessarily easy to do it so early in the year.
1:13:34
We have to understand as coaches, the players have to understand that, you know, they're going to make some mistakes and that's okay.
1:13:40
But we have to learn and grow from them.
1:13:42
But, you know, hopefully we'll play the game with some pace.
1:13:45
We'll manage to puck well and be disciplined, not take a bunch of penalties and just start to put in place the things that we want to do and the way we want to play as much as anything.
1:13:54
What do you like about opening the year at the icebreaker?
1:13:57
Two extra games.
1:13:58
You know, that's just like going up to Alaska last year.
1:14:01
You know, it's the bonus games.
1:14:03
You know, next year we have a bonus game with the Hall of Fame game out in Vegas.
1:14:06
So I think we've tried to, you know, I'd like to take a team to Alaska every three or four years because it's a good trip.
1:14:14
It's an easy trip for us and it's those two extra games.
1:14:16
And it was a great way for our team to start the year last year, to go up there.
1:14:21
And, you know, same thing with Duluth.
1:14:22
You know, everybody gets to go.
1:14:24
And so we'll take everybody up there.
1:14:27
You know, it's a quick trip.
1:14:28
We'll be home by nine thirty on Saturday night.
1:14:31
So we'll be rested up, ready to go on Monday.
1:14:34
Create space for myself.
1:14:36
My first three steps a little bit.
1:14:37
And I think I managed to get better at all those.
1:14:42
Do you feel like, yeah, I was going to say, people are saying you really put in the work this off season.
1:14:46
Can you notice a difference when you're out there?
1:14:49
Yeah, for sure.
1:14:49
I mean, I think a lot of it, like I said before, is confidence coming in and knowing that you've done everything you can to prepare.
1:14:57
Obviously, the physical side, like I feel like I got stronger, I got quicker.
1:15:01
I've worked on my game a lot, but half the battle is the confidence, the mental part of it, and just knowing that you've done everything you could and you're ready to go.
1:15:10
Looks like this team's pretty deep up front.
1:15:12
Yeah, for sure.
1:15:13
We have a ton of skill.
1:15:15
As you can see, we have four lines who can really play.
1:15:17
We have five lines who can really play.
1:15:20
I think it helps because everyone pushes each other and everyone knows there's someone right on them.
1:15:26
If they start slacking, not working hard, but someone can push them out of their spot really fast.
1:15:31
We play fast and we want to get on D in some plays.
1:15:35
I think we have the group to do that.
1:15:37
What do you think about Duluth?
1:15:39
It's been a tough goal with the Gophers versus them the last few years.
1:15:43
Yeah, you know, it's a new year, new teams.
1:15:47
We're both 0-0 right now.
1:15:49
So, yeah, that's about all I have to say about that.
1:15:53
What have you learned from your pass run-ins with Duluth and in-state teams?
1:15:57
I mean, every game is big.
1:15:58
It means a lot.
1:15:59
In-state, we want to be the best team in the state.
1:16:03
Like I said, the past is the past.
1:16:04
We're not thinking about it.
1:16:05
We know we have a good group this year to compete with anyone.
1:16:09
Like I said, everyone's 0-0 right now.
1:16:11
So, we're going to go out there and play hard and show that we're the best team in the state.
1:16:15
Do you think your added size and puck protection work will pay off in a weekend like this?
1:16:20
Yeah, I think so.
1:16:21
I mean, there's going to be a lot of battles in the trenches down low.
1:16:25
And, you know, like you said, I feel like just have been in good shape and have the strength to be able to wear them down in the corners.
1:16:33
And, you know, I think a lot of the game will be played in the corners.
1:16:38
Neither team likes each other.
1:16:39
I mean, everyone knows that.
1:16:41
And so, there's going to be a lot of battles.
1:16:43
And I think size is going to be important.
1:16:46
What's the most important thing for a baller to stick to when you contribute defensively?
1:16:51
You know, defense is really, it's a six man part of the game.
1:16:55
Like, we got to get back and help our D just as much as the D have to get up and help us offensively.
1:17:02
So getting back and getting on your guys and not just kind of coasting back, getting back hard to the middle and picking up their guys and making sure we get someone in the battle well and the defensive zone, just to take some pressure off them and give them outlets when they do get to puck to get out of the zone so they're not to spend too much time in the ball zone.
1:17:21
What's some of the emphasis from the coaches in the early going here practices?
1:17:26
Just play fast.
1:17:27
It's get the puck, get up the ice, get it in, get on their D.
1:17:33
We want to be a team who's in everyone's faces, who swarms the puck, who has more than one guy in the puck, who gets it back and then can quick strike and make plays.
1:17:43
So I think we've been really focusing on conditioning and being able to go as hard as we can for 45 seconds, 30 to 45 seconds to get off the ice and just keep it going like that as a unit.
1:17:56
So yeah, just playing fast, having good legs and being able to be all over the closing teams.
1:18:02
Can you talk a little bit about how Tyler's leadership is a little different from Justin's from last year?
1:18:10
Yeah, I mean, what everyone sees is they're both great players.
1:18:15
But as far as leadership roles, you know, Justin last year was his second year, so he was a senior.
1:18:22
And he, I don't know, like I feel like he might have been a little bit more vocal with his leadership.
1:18:29
And everyone has their own way of leading.
1:18:31
And that's not to say that's the better way.
1:18:32
Or Tyler's more, he leads by example.
1:18:35
Like, I mean, he's great at telling guys what to do if they need to know or putting a guy in place if he has to.
1:18:41
But I think he'd rather lead by example and kind of show the team how it's going to be done, as opposed to telling guys how it's going to be done.
1:18:48
Justin did that too.
1:18:49
I mean, he did a little bit of both.
1:18:50
But, you know, they're both great leaders.
1:18:53
They might just have a little bit different way of doing it.
1:18:56
You're not wearing a letter, but you're an upperclassman.
1:18:58
Do you feel like you're a leader on this team?
1:18:59
Yeah, I mean, we have a huge class, our junior class.
1:19:02
So we have a lot of guys who make an impact in our class.
1:19:07
And I think everyone, you know, after your sophomore year, we even have a sophomore captain right now.
1:19:12
So as you're kind of in the program a little bit, you know how things are done and you know how things are supposed to be done and how the coaches want to be done and what it takes to win.
1:19:19
So just having a little bit of experience, you know, teaching the younger guys how to do things and showing them the right way.
1:19:26
And so, yeah, I feel a little bit of leadership responsibility.
1:19:30
You and the other Michigan guy, Mike Svertula, seem to find a lot of time playing together.
1:19:34
What's it like playing with him and what do you think he really just does well on the ice?
1:19:40
He works hard.
1:19:41
I mean, I think that's my favorite thing about playing with him.
1:19:44
I mean, he's obviously got skill.
1:19:46
He can score.
1:19:47
He sees the ice well, but he works hard.
1:19:50
He wins battles.
1:19:51
He's always doing the right thing.
1:19:52
He thinks the game really well.
1:19:54
A guy like that's really easy to play with.
1:19:57
He keeps it simple.
1:19:57
He doesn't try to do too much.
1:19:58
And so I feel like I kind of always know where he's going to be or where he's going.
1:20:04
And he makes it really easy for me.
1:20:07
You're kind of one of the returning dynamic guys who's got power play experience on the blue line.
1:20:12
Are you looking to solidify that role with this team?
1:20:15
Yeah, definitely.
1:20:15
I think anytime you can use, you know, your strengths to help the team out, I think that's something that you really got to look into.
1:20:21
And so, you know, we've been rotating on the power play and whatnot with, you know, two or three defensemen now.
1:20:26
And just go out there, play your game, and not, you know, look into it too much.
1:20:31
And like I said, use your strengths.
1:20:34
What are the keys for your power play to click?
1:20:36
I think the biggest thing is moving the puck.
1:20:38
If we move the puck really fast and, you know, get shots through and hunt for rebounds and whatnot, I think that's kind of the biggest thing for our power play.
1:20:45
And, you know, our breakout, you know, make sure we get out of our zone really quick.
1:20:49
And once we get in the zone, move the puck pretty fast and, you know, catch them off guard and, like I said, get pucks and that.
1:20:56
Speaking of the power play, a lot of teams now are doing that drop pass through the neutral zone coming through.
1:21:02
How do you see that as it's grown throughout all levels of hockey?
1:21:07
Yeah, like you said, I think that's the drop pass has gotten pretty much, you know, it's gotten more popular as we've seen lately.
1:21:13
And I think it depends on the other team's penalty kill.
1:21:17
That's really what it depends on.
1:21:19
And coaches do a really good job of letting us know, you know, what that's going to look like.
1:21:23
And so sometimes you go into the game, you're looking to drop, and sometimes it's one of those things where you got to change it, you know, on the fly.
1:21:30
So we'll see what the coaches say, what they want.
1:21:32
And, you know, they do an excellent job scouting and whatnot, the other team.
1:21:35
And but like I said, it's, you know, it's the first game of the year.
1:21:38
So we'll see.
1:21:39
It's going to be one of the things we're going to be on our toes.
1:21:42
What are the benefits of the drop?
1:21:44
What happens is when we drop, usually the defenseman skates off and then we'll drop it.
1:21:48
And what does is it kind of catches their two forwards and two defensemen flat footed.
1:21:53
And so if you can, you know, drop it to one of our guys who got some speed, they can kind of, you know, just chip it right by him and go to work and get into our zone.
1:22:01
So it catches them flat footed for the most part.
1:22:04
What's the most important thing for the forwards to do to help with your defensive responsibilities?
1:22:09
We work a lot on our center getting low and making sure he's coming back.
1:22:13
And sometimes it's not even the center.
1:22:15
It's, it could be the wing.
1:22:16
It's usually the first forward back.
1:22:17
So, and along with that is communication.
1:22:20
I think when we communicate and talk out there, it's, it makes things a lot easier.
1:22:26
Sometimes, you know, rings are got good atmospheres and you can't really hear out there.
1:22:31
So you got to make sure you're loud and communicate really well.
1:22:33
And so I think the biggest thing is communication.
1:22:36
What do you think the veterans on this team kind of think about the rivalry with Duluth and kind of the recent past?
1:22:43
Yeah, for sure.
1:22:44
I think, I think Amsoil is probably one of the better ranks to play in college hockey in terms of atmosphere.
1:22:50
It's going to be sold out Friday night for sure.
1:22:53
It's going to be loud.
1:22:54
So it's going to be a lot of fun.
1:22:55
I think the guys are really, really excited about that.
1:22:57
In terms of recent past, you know, it's a new season.
1:23:01
You know, we got new guys.
1:23:02
They got new guys.
1:23:03
And so it's going to be something that we're going to have to go in there.
1:23:06
And it's going to be loud and it's going to be really exciting.
1:23:09
So, you know, we're excited.
1:23:11
All that said, how much, you know, to put a W in that, you know, in the wing column right away and against that type of team, what could that do for you guys?
1:23:18
Yeah, for sure.
1:23:19
Like I said, you know, it's the first game of the year.
1:23:21
So there's going to be mistakes and whatnot.
1:23:23
But we got to just make sure that we're competing to a really high level.
1:23:26
And if we compete, you know, our skill will take over and, you know, we'll be fine.
1:23:31
So we just got to make sure we're competing really hard and, you know, doing the little things, you know, defending really hard and getting pucks in deep.
1:23:38
And go to work from there.
1:23:40
Don talked about managing the puck and making sure not to shorten the rink.
1:23:44
How much are you hearing that this week?
1:23:46
Yeah, for sure.
1:23:46
Managing the puck is huge.
1:23:47
I think last year, you know, we had turned over the puck too much.
1:23:52
And that ultimately cost us at the end of the season.
1:23:55
So managing the puck is huge.
1:23:56
I mean, if we can cut down our turnovers this year, you know, five turnovers a game less this year, it's going to, you know, help us out a lot.
1:24:04
And it's not even in the D zone.
1:24:06
It's in the offensive zone, too.
1:24:08
You know, when you kill your offense like that, you know, they're coming right back down on you.
1:24:11
So managing the puck is going to be huge for us this year, for sure.
1:24:15
Is that one of those metrics you guys kind of keep an eye on?
1:24:18
Yeah, I know, statistically.
1:24:19
Yeah, statistically, yeah, for sure.
1:24:21
They harp on it, for sure, on the video.
1:24:23
You know, it's one of those things where you got to take pride in your own game and make sure that if you don't have a play, make sure it's, you know, off the glass defensively or just get a chip, you know, chip down low so you can go after the puck.
1:24:34
So try not to be too cute and just get it in the zone.
1:24:38
There's a lot of talk about Casey after that exhibition the other night.
1:24:42
What was it like for the team to see kind of what he can do when the lights come on?
1:24:45
Yeah, for sure.
1:24:46
Casey, I mean, he's a really skilled player.
1:24:48
I mean, that's just simple as that.
1:24:49
He's really skilled and, you know, I'm really excited to see what he does this year.
1:24:54
He's really fast.
1:24:54
He thinks the game really well.
1:24:56
He anticipates really well.
1:24:58
You know, like, I'm sure you guys have seen his hands are pretty phenomenal.
1:25:02
So, you know, I'm really excited to see what he does this year and he should have a good year.
1:25:08
Tyler has been one of your best plus minus forwards last year.
1:25:11
What does he do so well as a forward to help you out?
1:25:13
I think the biggest thing, like I said earlier, is just the communication style back in the D zone.
1:25:19
So, you know, when he's communicating with us, it's easier for us to break the puck out, which, you know, ultimately we'll spend less time in our own zone and then, you know, have some fun in the offensive zone.
1:25:29
So, like I said, the communication is gonna be huge going into Friday, and Tyler does a really good job of that.
Search Transcript
No matching lines.
